Native American Commandments
1.) Treat the earth and all that dwell thereon with respect.
2.) Remain close to the Great Spirit.
3.) Show great respect for your fellow beings.
4.) Work together for the benefit for all mankind.
5.) Give assistance and kindness wherever needed.
6.) Do what you know to be right.
7.) Look after the well bing of mind and body.
8.) Didicate a share of your efforts to the greater good .
9.) Be truthfull and honest at all times.
10.) Take full resonsibility for all your actions.
We were taught that the Great Spirit sees and hears everthing,
that He never forgets, that heretoafter he will give every man
a spirit home according to his desserts: If he has been a
good man, he will have a good home: if he has been a bad,
he will have a bad home. This I believe, and all my people
believe the same.
Chief Joseph
The Legend of the Dream Catcher
The Old Ones tell that dreams do hold great power and drift about at night before coming to the sleeping ones. To keep the dreamer safe, the Old Ones created a special web, the Dream Catcher, to hang above the door of their lodge. When dreams traveled the web paths, the bad dreams lost their way and were entangled, vanishing with the first rays of daylight. The good ones, knowing the way, passed through and were guided gently to the sleeping ones.
We can only be what we give ourselves the power to be.
Cherokee Feast of Days
The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when their relationships, their oneness with the universe and all it's powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
Black Elk
It is the general belief of the Indians that after a man dies his spirit is somewhere on earth or in the sky. We don not know exactly where, but we are sure that his spirit still lives....
So it is with the Great Spirit. We believe that he is everywhere, yet he is to us as the spirits of our friends whose voices we cannot hear!
Chased By Bears (1843-1915)
Our land is everything to us...I will tell you one of the things we remember of our land. We remember that our grandfathers paid for it-with their lives.
(John Wooden Legs, Cheyenne)
